Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

"What the hell is that annoying brat doing?"
There was a tone of Jasmine’s voice was laced with annoyance and anger, and her face looked like she had just swallowed something especially sour.
It was clear for anyone to see that she obviously hated the guy that her mother just brought up.
"Normally I’d scold you for using such language to describe an Azadian Senator, but in this case, I feel the same way." Regina said, signing deeply.
She then pressed a few keys on her terminal, and the holoprojector set up in the center of the room sprung to life.
On it, a recording from a press conference from a week ago was being displayed. Right now, it was paused at the beginning, but the image of a well-dressed, charismatic looking young man was being shown.
’That must be Bastion Cuach.’ Avery thought, looking the guy up and down.
Bastion was a bit on the shorter side, probably being one hundred sixty-five centimeters tall at best.
His face had a handsome and youthful quality to it that made him look younger than he really was, and his short brown hair had clearly been styled by a professional.
Avery could understand why this guy might stand out a bit as a newly elected senator. He had done a little research before while they were on Azade, and the average age of the plant’s representatives was a bit over sixty.
’He’s definitely popular with some of the younger demographics on Azade, and he knows what he’s doing to push out propaganda.’
With his own terminal, Avery had already looked the man up and was doing a bit of sleuthing to figure his potential enemy out.
While he did that, Jasmine and her mother both grumbled about the guy for a bit, before Regina played the recording for them to see.
In his press conference, Bastion lambasted Regina for poorly handling her daughter and not only allowing her to marry a mercenary with no background, but to support it and throw a large wedding for the two of them.
It was pretty obvious to Avery that the guy was just jealous, but he framed it all as a political and parental failing on the chancellor he respected.
He did not come right out and say that he should be the one with Jasmine, but he did mention several times that she deserved a "proper" match instead of an uncouth mercenary.
’He’s certainly eloquent with his words, and he laid his groundwork well.’ Avery thought, scowling as he searched through planetary news sites and social media.
Before Bastion had made his public appearance, there had been a large uptick in stories about the wedding, and the controversial nature of the current chancellor’s daughter marrying a mercenary.
There were also several smaller celebrities with following in the hundreds of thousands to a few million that were putting out critical videos of Avery and the wedding.
Alone each one would not have amounted to much, but there were hundreds of videos out there that were all saying basically the same things.
Judging by the content of everything and the timing that they started popping up, this was almost certainly a concentrated effort that had been paid for by Bastion or someone supporting him.
It had been done in a way that mostly painted Avery as a villain that had tricked Jasmine and Regina, and that the good chancellor and her daughter needed to be saved from a conniving mercenary that was trying to worm his way into the upper crust of Azade.
’There was some decent coverage of me at first, talking about my quick rise in the ranking and my Silver Cross of Heroism, but they’ve all been drowned out now by the sheer quantity of the negative videos and reports. It’s all just fearmongering though, without any actual evidence to back it up.’
Honestly, Avery was starting to get pretty pissed about how badly he was getting slandered. All just because he was going to marry Jasmine.
Of course, somehow Bastion must have found out about his relationship with Kasandra as well and was using that against him.
Polygamy was not illegal on Azade and there was not even much of a stigma around it, but in this case the people spreading propaganda were framing it as Avery only having gotten close to Jasmine for personal gain, while Kasandra, another mercenary, was his real partner.
"I’m going to kill him." Jasmine said, her lips turned up into a wide smile that certainly did not reach her eyes.
One glance and Avery could tell that she was pissed after having watched the recording of the press conference from a week ago.
It had been her request for a fleet of Azade’s Keepers of the Peace to come to Avery’s parents’ aid that had served as the opening Bastion needed to publicly speak out against them in such a fashion.
Few people knew the whole story of the deployment, and whether Bastion did or not, that was not going to stop him from using this opportunity to his advantage.
He had labeled it as a misappropriation of Azadian forces to assist a mercenary dozens of systems away.
And truthfully, this was not entirely off the mark.
Regina had sent out thirty ships under the guise of being escorts, but for anyone that looked into the matter, it was apparent that this was far too many just to collect two people and bring them back to Azade Safely.
Just a couple of vessels normally would have sufficed, rather than an entire fleet of some of Azade’s most heavily armed ships.
"Jasmine, calm down. Overreacting will only make things worse. Even if you could get rid of him without leaving any traces, the rumor mill and gossipers would still spread their lies and twist it against us."
Regina chided Jasmine for her hasty choice in words. Although not due to her suggestion of violence, but only because it would make the situation more complicated. Almost giving the impression that if it was possible to get rid of Bastion cleanly, she would be all for it.
"So, what should we do? Cancel the wedding? I don’t really care about holding a grand ceremony. We can just get legally married, have a small celebration, and then leave Azade behind." Avery said, coming up with the easiest solution.
It was Jasmine’s mother who had really forced the issue in the first place.
She had wanted to hold the ceremony and get people to accept Avery and Jasmine’s relationship since on their last visit, certain high-ranking individuals had already been asking about Jasmine and trying to arrange a political marriage.
Obviously, that had backfired on them, as Bastion Cuach was not going to just roll over and let it happen.
Whether he was the one that came up with the idea, or he was just being used as a face and mouthpiece by someone else, there were powerful forces on Azade working against Avery and Jasmine’s union.
And while not as outspoken and present, Avery had found a few other young men from well to do families that were likely former suitors of Jasmine’s that still had a desire for her. Most likely for political reasons rather than a true romantic interest considering how long Jasmine had been away from the planet.
"I’d prefer not to cancel the ceremony. After already announcing it and the money I’ve put into it, stopping now and caving to their pressure would only damage our image."
Of course, Avery understood that Regina’s reputation was what was most at risk. When the next election for Azade’s Chancellor came up, there was little doubt that this wedding would be brought up.
If she cancelled it now, it would essentially be an admission that she was wrong. At least that’s how it would be spun to the public by her opponents.
"Also, I believe that Jasmine has been looking forward to this. I wouldn’t want to deprive my daughter of her perfect wedding day." Regina said, turning her head towards her daughter.
When Avery looked over at her as well, he could see that she was visibly upset.
She had expressed how excited she was to finally marry him. No doubt she had been looking forward to it, and the thought of stopping now because of some naysayers had upset her.
"Okay, canceling the ceremony is off the table. But what’s our next move then? There are only a few days left until we’re supposed to get married. That’s not long to change an entire planet’s opinion of us. Well, mostly me."
Avery had been painted as the clear villain in this scenario. Anything he tried to do directly was likely to just end up blowing up in his face.
He might have picked up some decent negotiating skills from being the leader of his own mercenary group, but he was lacking compared to the professional politicians that they were up against.
"Actually, I think I’ve already come up with some good ideas."